Reversible propeller-wheel.



No. 642,60]. Patented Feb. 6, I900.

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REVERSIBLE PBOPELLER WHEEL.

(Application filed Mar. 22, 1899.)

(No Model.)

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NITED STATES GEORGE I-I GERE, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

REVERSIBLE PROPELhER-WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 642,601, dated February 6, 1900.

Application filed March 22, 1899.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. GERE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reversible Propeller- W'heels; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same My invention relates to improvements in reversible propeller-wheels, and more especially to that class of wheels having a hollow cylindrical hub in which are rotatively mounted the blades, and which hub incloses the reversing mechanism, consisting of cranks attached to the blades to turn the same and a block slidable in the hub and actuating the cranks.

The object of my invention is to provide longer cranks within a hub of given dimensions, and thereby to lessen the strain thereon and risk of breakage and wear, which is great, and to provide the same with certain new and useful features hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

My invention consists, essentially, in journaling the blades tangentially in the hub and at one side of a line drawn through the axis of the blade and hub, and extending the crank-arm across this line, and engaging it with the block near the other side of the chamber in the hub, as will more fully appear by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of a wheel embodying my invention with the hub and inclosed parts in transverse vertical section; Fig. 2, a side view of the same with the hub and sleeve in longitudinal section, the middle portion of the hub being sectioned on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 and the balance sectioned in the plane of its axis; and Fig. 3, a detail of the block on the end of the shaft.

Like letters refer to like parts in all of the figures.

A represents the driving-shaft, actuated by any convenient non-reversing motor; 13, a sleeve through which the shaft passes; O, a hollow cylindrical hub having a reduced for- Serial No. 710,018. (No model.)

ward end secured to the sleeve and a remov able cap 0 at the rear end.

E are bosses on the hub, preferably three in number, in which are j ournaled the shanks F of the propelling-blades. Said bosses are not radial, as heretofore, but are arranged with their axes tangential to a circle about midway between the axis of the hub and its circumference. F and G are cranks secured to the inner ends of said shanks by pins I-I, these pins being provided with screw=threaded inner ends and having nicks in their outer ends, whereby they may be inserted and re moved by a screw-driver. The cranks G extend transversely to the axis of the hub and substantially from side to side across the face of the block J, which latter distance is more than the semidiameter of the hub and permits of theuse of a comparativelylonger crank than heretofore in a hub of given diameter. Said cranks have crank-pins I on their movable ends, which pins engage transverse grooves K in the respective faces of a block J. This block has as many sides parallel to its axis as there are blades F (preferably three) and has its respective angles engaging longitudinal grooves D in the inner surface of the cylindrical hub O and is slidable therein. The shaft A and block J are longitudinally movable relative to the sleeve B and hub 0, either the shaft and block or the sleeve and hub being moved, as most convenient, and when so moved the blades are turned in the bosses and their action on the water reversed. The engagement of the angles of the block with these grooves in the hub also serves to rotate the hub and blades. The hub presents a smooth rounded surface with rounded or tapered ends, and thus rotates and passes longitudinally through the Water quite easily and freely, and it also completely incloses all the mechanism for shifting the blades, and thus protects the same from fouling or injury by contact With obstructions. By removing the cap 0 the pins H may be withdrawn, the blades detached, and the block, cranks, and shaft taken out at the rear end of the hub.

Having thus fully described myinvention, what I claim, and wish to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a reversible propeller-wheel, the combination of a hollow hub mounted on a sleeve, an angular block slidably engaging the hub, blades rotatively and tangentiallymounted on said hub, cranks on said blades extending substantially across the entire face of said block, and connected to said block at their movable ends, substantially as described.

2. In a reversible propeller-wheel, a hollow hub mounted 011 a sleeve, a block mounted on a shaft and slidably engaging longitudi nal grooves in the hub, blades rotatively and tangentially mounted on said hub, cranks on said blades extending substantially across the face of said block, pins in the movable ends of said cranks, and transverse grooves in the faces of said block engaged by said pins, substantially as described.

3. In a reversible propeller-wheel, a hollow hub mounted on a sleeve, and having longitudinal grooves, bosses on said hub arranged tangential to the axis of said hub blades journaled in said bosses, an angular block having its angles slidably engaging said grooves, and mounted on a shaft longitudinally movable in the sleeves, transverse grooves in said block, and cranks extending across the faces of said block, and attached at one end to the blades, and having pins at their other ends engaging the grooves in the block, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE H. GERE. WVitnesscs:

LUTHER V. MoULroN, LEWIs E. FLANDERS. 

